Library releases classic novels on Instagram

Via Trendwatching

This month, the New York Public Library launchedInsta Novels, an initiative giving the public access to classic literature via the library’s Instagram page. Classic novels will be released in parts via Instagram Stories, and text will be accompanied by animations. The Insta Novels featured include Alice in Wonderland, The Yellow Paper, and The Metamorphosis.

Franz Kafka, that great chronicler of human alienation, comes to the platform that brought us #soblessed. Franz, we hope you’re laughing up there. Back here on Earth, this innovation is a powerful signal of where expectations are heading when it comes to the consumption of content. And in an environment where every brand is – or should be! – a content brand, it’s worth breaking those expectations down. Plenty of brands are already applying one key principle in evidence here: head to the mega-platforms where people are (in this case, Instagram).

But take these two additional points back to your team...

Time-pressed and consumers are increasingly embracing snackable content that can be consumed on the go. The NYPL is leveraging Instagram to serialise novels; can you create a perfect match of platform with a form of snackable or serialised content that will let you reach out to new audiences?

Few would associate Instagram with classic literature. But as this innovation shows, there’s huge power in breaking the ‘rules’ of the platform you’re leveraging and bringing something truly unexpected to its audience.

What would it look like if you brought content to Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, wherever, that no one would expect?